missed the vote, but I'd say 3-5 months in a "hole up" situation. Longer in summer, when the garden and foraging is more doable.
Given 2-3K, mainly in food, I could push that to a year. Still working on it. (it never ends!)
heat conservation has got to be a biggie! - expending energy to heat a limited space and doing things like thermos jug cookery. (got a thermos or three?)
Water sources and fuel are weak points in most plans.
> Buying stuff is not enough. We all need to constantly learn new things. And learning involves more than reading. Reading is a good start - but you have to get out there and DO it (usually a few times) to really lock it in the brain. Push yourselves. Try and fix your car. Go sleep in the backyard next time it rains. Learn to fix your radio. You get the idea.
Excellent advice! - being able to help those around you makes you valuable. Knowledge, skills, information and tools can make you invaluable to those around you. After the initial natural selection, helping others around you will buy people watching your back and willing to help you if you help keep them alive. I'm not talking about handing out preps, but teaching them how to purify water, what plants are edible, how to make a solar cooker w/ AL foil, etc, improvised refrigeration, etc. Things that will help them help themselves. Medical skills are golden! Being able to repair stuff is very useful! I'm probably one of the few people in the county that knows how to make IV solutions from scratch, and probably the only one that has the equipment to do it! - as an example...
I've been prepping since the 70's too. Problem is that being a renter and a pepper are not very compatible. most renters move every year, on average. I had preps - basic 4, grinder, treadle sewing machine, etc. but lost them in moves - and they were a pain to move! Got my own place now, and to a large extent am starting over on the bulky/heavy stuff.
Same situation w/ bugging out. Kiss almost all your preps goodbye! If it won't fit in a 25-30 pound pack, it's gone. I did go through some survival training - one a class that relied on modern aids, the other Larry Dean Olsons BYU course. The former had an overnight "field trip" close to graduation. The latter was 20 days in the field with very minimal equipment. A blanket, sheath knife, billy can, close on our backs - little else. No canteens or water purification equipment. Going in, the instructors encouraged us to "fuel up" at the last restaurant stop. It stretches the stomach. They ate like birds. They wanted us to really know hunger... the initial stage was called "impact" - lots of hiking, no blankets, no rations and no fire for 3 days! We would hike up to 20 miles - line of sight - through mountains, canyons and desert (it was held in the 4 corners area). Less than half the days, generally the latter days, were held in a base camp where they taught skills - edible plants, brain tanning, making shelters, flint napping, etc. Our food supply was supplemented by 800 calories a day. Generally grains/legumes, a carrot and a potato per group. Most of those calories came from the several honey packs they gave each person (the restaurant individual serving type). Don't under-rate these in your preps! They also make a good topical antibiotic and are a useful med for hypoglycemia as well as serving as an adhesive. If you are ever in a Starbucks - GRAB A HANDFULL! to add to your BOB. We supplemented this by what we could forage or catch. Snake is kind of bland, and there isn't a lot of meat on them. One also doesn't go far, divided among 20 people... This kind of experience changes a person. Both in self confidence level and in cleaning out your system. I SERIOUSLY mean cleaning out your system! Its amazing all the crap modern society gets you used to and dulls your senses. I went into this program smoking a pack a day and being a heavy caffeine drinker (up to 2-3 pots a day). Impact left me not missing either - not a craving at all. On the final day, on the way out, they gave us each a banana - something I usually found pretty bland, but it tasted like a rich desert. I will never forget that banana. One student had been craving a candy bar the whole trip. He got one on the way out - we had to pull over after he'd taken a couple of bites, so he could vomit! Once back in Provo UT, I got a pack of cigs and went to a cafe for a cup of coffee - my own cravings, but very mild... more interested in how they would effect me. I was coughing so hard after 1/3 of the cig, I couldn't finish it. As to the coffee, I was shaking so hard after half a cup that more was landing in my lap than in my mouth and scolding me! Back home, I found the city repulsive! The stench of gas fumes, but more... call it sixth since (I've always been lucky in this department - the ability...), a woman walking down the street a block away, telegraphing FEAR!, a guy half a block away, telegraphing predator... - it was overpowering. I had to move, and move I did, to a tent in the mountains at 10,000 feet, bordering national forest.
I would recommend this course to anyone. If you are a Mormon, it's a PE class via BYU in Provo, if you are not a Mormon, look up B.O.S.S. - Boulder Outdoor Survival School. Same class, same instructors. Thing is BYU charges non-Mormons double tuition while BOSS does not. Some caviots - to go on this class you need to condition yourself physically - they provide instructions, this includes running up and down stairs, and long hikes. You need a MD's sign off to attend. Count on several months to get into shape. Last I looked it up, they had seriously "wimped" it down. There are many lesser classes (BOSS at least), ranging from a day hike experience, up to INTENSE! - and the latter is the type I took, though there was one longer trip offered. Second, they now allow water purification tablets - I was told by one of the instructors that our group was unusual in that we didn't contract giardia(sp?) - normally people came off the course with the running shits... It was part of the "experience"... Then again, when I took it, it had been "wimped down" from the original. They didn't used to supplement the food supply with 800 calories of rations! This started to change as Instructors health declined and many had to quit. That kind of a "life style" takes a lot out of a person, and while OK for a while, will kill you eventually. Even if you know what you are doing. Interestingly, many Mormon girls took the course for one main reason: to loose weight! And you will loose weight if you take this class! Up to 20-30 pounds. This class was the hardest thing I have ever done! Recommended!
As has been touched upon, testing preps is vital! Coming home one day and announcing to your spouse/offspring "OK - this is a test! - effective immediately, we are going to cut off the gas, water, electric, cable and phone and not leave the house for the next month, relying on our preps to survive", can be an invaluable learning experience. Foremost, it will tell you if you married the correct person and are raising your kids right (btw: I'm single - and single prepper gals out there... PM me if interested!). Secondly, it will identify holes in your preps and maybe things like food you find you hate, or has gone rancid, etc - areas you need to pay attention to. Also prep areas that are lacking. Everyone has quit, been laid off, or fired at oe point or another. This is a good excuse to do such an exercise, but don't plan for it, don't prep for it (the exercise). If your preps are good - so are you! It's better as a surprise. Maybe have a prepper friend call you sometime in the next year and give you a code word that initiates it, at a time you have not a clue of... That's realistic.
Sometimes exposure to different cultures/people is useful. Back when it was "safe" to hitchhike (and I was young and stupid) I was hitchen and got picked up by this guy that worked for the railroad... he gave me this number for an internal recording that gave you the schedule for trains and told me how to interpret the numbers or the outgoing trains... Even East, Odd, West, as I recall... along with a bit more and tips on rail yard security - we were talking about freight hopping...
Related - we used to do "culture shock" experiments - go down in your Sunday WORST and hang out with the bums and hobo's - a can of generic whatever in hand to see what you could learn, then head out and have coffee in a 5 star hotel restaurant and eavesdrop (change of clothes required!).
Related - Rumor has it that a certain federal agency has a SERE type exercise that involves the student being placed in the back of a van, driven around in circles, to disorient them, and tossed out after a long drive in their skivvies, or nekid w/ the instructions to find their way back to "base" without being spotted or arrested. A panic number is provided, and people very good at field craft without being spotted follow the student...
Similarly, the Alternative HS I attended had an exercise before I got there where the students were told to find shelter and spend the night to the best of their abilities, but friends or anyone you knew were off limits - underpasses, in dumpsters, etc... and report back. Parents complained, so it got toned down to the .75 cent lunch exercise that I've written about - where you had to get lunch and document how you included the 4 food groups for that amount. A panic number was provided, but not the surveillance.
THIS is all good training!
-t
